New standards are needed to plug security and privacy gaps in our cars and trucks, according to a report released today by Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). The report, called Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk and first reported on by CBS News’ 60 Minutes, reveals how sixteen major automobile manufacturers responded to questions from Senator Markey in 2014 about how vehicles may be vulnerable to hackers, and how driver information is collected and protected. . . .

Have you heard of TED? It began in 1984 as a conference and now covers a wide range of topics in more than 100 languages. Think of it as a massive brain trust that shares great ideas and information.

Each of the law-related TED talks listed in this article are worthwhile on their own: (1) four ways to fix a broken legal system; (2) eliminate legalese by using plain English; (3) how to beat a patent troll; (4) how the Internet will change government; (5) laws that choke creativity; (6) copyright law; (7) why eyewitnesses get it wrong; (8) how technology could make crime worse; (9) the Internet and anonymity online; and (10) how great leaders inspire. -CCE

Despite the fact that every major Internet provider has added some kind of encryption to its services over the past year, tracking your online traffic is easier than you think.

And you don’t have to be the target of the hacker or the NSA for your traffic to be intercepted. There is a hole in mobile security that could make tens of millions of Americans vulnerable.

Unsecure Wi-Fi networks have been a well-known vulnerability in the tech industry for years. They can let even the most unsophisticated hacker capture your traffic and possibly steal your identity. . . .

The biggest retail hack in U.S. history wasn’t particularly inventive, nor did it appear destined for success. In the days prior to Thanksgiving 2013, someone installed malware in Target’s (TGT) security and payments system designed to steal every credit card used at the company’s 1,797 U.S. stores. At the critical moment—when the Christmas gifts had been scanned and bagged and the cashier asked for a swipe—the malware would step in, capture the shopper’s credit card number, and store it on a Target server commandeered by the hackers.

It’s a measure of how common these crimes have become, and how conventional the hackers’ approach in this case, that Target was prepared for such an attack. . . .

Government Intervenes in Lawsuits Against Health Management Associates Inc. Hospital Chain Alleging Unnecessary Inpatient Admissions and Payment of Kickbacks, by Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs

The government has intervened in eight False Claims Act lawsuits against Health Management Associates Inc. (HMA) alleging that HMA billed federal health care programs for medically unnecessary inpatient admissions from the emergency departments at HMA hospitals and paid remuneration to physicians in exchange for patient referrals, the Justice Department announced today. The government also has joined in the allegations in one of these lawsuits that Gary Newsome, HMA’s former CEO, directed HMA’s corporate practice of pressuring emergency department physicians and hospital administrators to raise inpatient admission rates, regardless of medical necessity. HMA operates 71 hospitals in 15 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

* * *

The lawsuits allege that HMA’s corporate officers, at the direction of Newsome, exerted significant pressure on doctors in the emergency department to admit patients who could have been placed in observation, treated as outpatients or discharged, and that this resulted in the submission of inflated or false claims to federal health care programs. One lawsuit also alleges that patients were improperly admitted for scheduled surgical procedures that should have been done on an outpatient basis. The complaints further allege that HMA paid kickbacks, either in the form of bonuses or awarded contracts, to physician groups staffing HMA emergency rooms to induce the physicians to admit patients unnecessarily. . . . [Emphasis added.]

[G]iven its limited resources, the IRS said that in 2014 it will stop preparing tax returns for people who need help, such as those who are elderly or disabled. The agency also plans to answer only “basic” tax law questions, and only during the normal filing season through April 15. Instead, it will direct people to the website and other automated sources of information. . . .

LinkedIn has filed a lawsuit to stop competitors that are scraping its servers and gathering hundreds of thousands of LinkedIn’s users’ profiles. The competitors use bots that use the information stolen from LinkedIn to create false profiles that attempt to interact with LinkedIn’s users. LinkedIn’s Complaint is included in Mr. Roberts’ post. -CCE

[I]t’s not immediately clear if LinkedIn has a clear-cut legal case since it is not necessarily illegal to copy information from a website. In its complaint, the company is relying on its own terms of services that forbid scraping as well as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

In the meantime, LinkedIn users may wish to be wary about which invitations to connect they accept.

As more news about the personal information stolen from Target, identity theft is a valid concern. -CCE

Tax identity theft happens when someone uses your Social Security number to get a tax refund or a job. Find out what you can do about it, and how you can help others during Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week.

The video offers a rare glimpse of the secretive billionaire investor at the center of the biggest insider trading prosecution in U.S. history talking about the very issues that have put him and his firm under such intense scrutiny.